Memory storing methods from scratch.

[ben-zayb]

I have a character concept where his/her alter ego (not a real person) manifests instead of him/her at certain times. The thing is, the alter ego has no real memory storage but shares whatever the actual person currently knows. Alternatively, an alter ego that manifests in one of the clones made by the actual person, either via Clone, Body Outside Body, or Fission (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/fission.htm).

So basically, he wants to keep a "journal of sorts", which may be or may not be an actual object, of anything he wants to keep track of, but he wants to do it in such a way that the actual person's real identity won't be able to find the existence of, or at least won't be able to recognize, such "journal". Since he can only remember what the actual person's real ego remembers, the existence of the journal and/or its messages should already be accessible and easily recognizable, but only to the Alter Ego.

Any ideas on how could this be done without waving it as mere fluff? (yep, because all these complications are done to make a good/different narrative background of the actual character in question)

[OzymandiasX]

With no memory of its own? If it doesn't have separate memories, I'm not sure how one personality would even know to look for something that the main wouldn't be looking for. I'd think that it would at least have to know that it was looking for messages it may have hidden itself.

If the alter ego would at least have some memories of its own, it could do things like write notes in the margins of a book that rarely gets opened (like the journal of a defeated enemy that a PC has on his loot list, but never references anymore)... Or he could write it in a code or cipher more 'in plain sight' like weird new tattoos that the main persona keeps waking up to (but doesn't understand without a high Decipher Script) or written using a magical ink that only the alter-ego knows how to reveal.


On a related note, if you like movies, watch the movie Memento. Aside from being an awesome movie in general, the main story revolves around a guy who has no short term memory and has to figure things out by leaving himself weird notes (that he often doesn't understand). It may give you some ideas.

[danzibr]

On a related note, if you like movies, watch the movie Memento. Aside from being an awesome movie in general, the main story revolves around a guy who has no short term memory and has to figure things out by leaving himself weird notes (that he often doesn't understand). It may give you some ideas.
Seconded! I don't have any suggestions but... the movie might help.

[Nettlekid]

Well, a Thought Bottle might work well, from Complete Arcane. It's well-known for being the way to break item creation and XP-costs in general, since for a single 500 XP cost it will save you current XP and you can gain it back later, etc etc. But its original purpose is that it's able to store information or memories, and those thoughts disappear from the user's mind until they're reclaimed. So that way, your original self can store memories, forget that they had those memories (if you wanted, the item description describes that they know what they lost, but you could change that) and then have the alter ego reclaim the memories from the bottle. Maybe you could have a Modify Memory spell attached to the bottle by use, and it removes the memory of using the bottle from the person who puts memories in, but not the one who takes them out.

[ben-zayb]

With no memory of its own? If it doesn't have separate memories, I'm not sure how one personality would even know to look for something that the main wouldn't be looking for. I'd think that it would at least have to know that it was looking for messages it may have hidden itself.
It has a short term memory of sorts, like a RAM, such that after switching back to his Real Ego he would have no idea what happened during the entire time that the mind is in Alter Ego-mode. This in turn makes the next manifestation of the Alter Ego also have no idea of what happened then.

If the alter ego would at least have some memories of its own, it could do things like write notes in the margins of a book that rarely gets opened (like the journal of a defeated enemy that a PC has on his loot list, but never references anymore)... Or he could write it in a code or cipher more 'in plain sight' like weird new tattoos that the main persona keeps waking up to (but doesn't understand without a high Decipher Script) or written using a magical ink that only the alter-ego knows how to reveal.
This was my original plan as well, but I unfortunately lack the creativity to describe how to explain this mechanically. That's why I'm asking the forums for more specific directions. The closest I can come up with is a Contingency spell triggered by one of the Alter Ego's mannerisms, to send him a message directing him to a specific place/object where his notes are hidden. :smallredface:

On a related note, if you like movies, watch the movie Memento. Aside from being an awesome movie in general, the main story revolves around a guy who has no short term memory and has to figure things out by leaving himself weird notes (that he often doesn't understand). It may give you some ideas.
Hmm... noted. I've heard countless praises about it, too, so I might just watch it.

Well, a Thought Bottle might work well, from Complete Arcane...
The thing is, the Alter Ego is the one keeping secrets. The Real Ego has no, or must not have any, idea whatsoever of what the Alter Ego is doing. Just think of this as something like the Alter Ego plans to kill the Real Ego to completely dominate the body, in which case the Real Ego has no reason for assisting.

[Nettlekid]

Well, there is the Psionic power Schism, and the similar Personality Parasite. They get an extra purely mental standard action, with Personality Parasite being explicitly negative. You could have them manifest things like Control Object to manipulate things without the real body's awareness. When the real body is asleep, use Control Body to do things like store/take memories from the Thought Bottle.